Of course, it helps when you've got some of the swiftest comic actors in town running with the audience's suggestions. Past successes have included Hairy Patter And The Improviser's Stone and Stars Warz. Look for Lord Of The Things in early 2006.
But for now we've got A Twisted Christmas Carol (rating: ), the company's solid take on the Dickens classic. Narrated by the author himself (played by Ralph MacLeod ), oddly without his signature beard, the show lets us contribute key elements, such as where Scrooge and Bob Cratchit work, what's wrong with Tiny Tim and what dead celebrity plays the Ghost of Christmas Past.
At last Saturday's (December 3) show, these were, in order: a nail polish factory, doesn't brush his teeth and Liberace.
The rotating cast, playing many roles, is up for these and other challenges. Gord Oxley and Aurora Browne made the Cratchits a particularly fun clan, especially when they were dealing with Tiny Tim's ( Jason Gemmill ) tooth decay or preparing their Christmas haggis (another improv suggestion).
Lisa Merchant 's Ghost of Christmas Panic (another suggestion) delivered a lesson in confident comic delivery, as did Kerry Griffin 's pickle-making Mr. Fezziwig.
Dave Healey 's Scrooge sure looked the part, and he delivered two of the night's best lines, one in response to Liberace's (Oxley again) sexually suggestive language, another a well-timed zinger about Wal-Mart employees trying to unionize.
The only questionable scene (written into the show) concerns Scrooge's nephew and his fiancée, called Anderson and Pam (get it? Me neither), played here as a flaming fop anticipating a marriage of convenience. The mildly homophobic set-up is beneath the company, and doesn't deliver any fresh laughs.